Cuomo, who has served as co-anchor of "20/20" and chief law and justice correspondent for ABC, will also anchor and report on "major events" for CNN, Jeff Zucker, the channel's new president, said in making the announcement.

“Chris is an accomplished anchor who is already an established name in morning television, as well as a widely respected investigative journalist,” Zucker said in a CNN release. “What I love about Chris is that he is passionate about every story he tells, never forgets about the viewer, and represents the type of journalism that makes CNN great.”

“This is a fantastic opportunity to do what I value the most and hopefully to do the work that I do best,” said Cuomo. “While it’s very difficult to leave ABC News, a place filled with people I have loved working with for many years, I am excited about my future with CNN.”

Cuomo is the second ABC News on-air reporter/anchor hired by Zucker. Former ABC White House correspondent Jake Tapper recently joined CNN and is expected to start anchoring a 4 p.m. weekday show later this year.

Zucker also this month added Rachel Nichols from ESPN to a high visibility job at CNN. She will be covering the Super Bowl this weekend for the channel.

Here's more from the CNN release on Cuomo:

In just the last year, he booked major interviews in the Madoff scandal, Rutgers student case, the John Edwards scandal, and with Penn State Coach Jerry Sandusky’s victim No. 1. From September 2006 - December 2009, Cuomo was the news anchor for Good Morning America, and covered every major story at home and abroad during that time. Overseas, he was an embedded reporter in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. Domestically, he distinguished himself covering the continuing problem of shootings like Virginia Tech, Ft. Hood, and the Pennsylvania Amish school shootings; hurricanes Katrina and Rita; the Sago Mine collapse, and the Minneapolis bridge collapse in August 2007. Cuomo has been honored with numerous industry accolades for his investigative reporting including multiple Emmy nominations and awards, a Polk, a Peabody, two Edward R. Murrows, a Loeb and the American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award.

UPDATE: ABC News announced David Muir will join Elizabeth Vargas as co-anchor of "20/20."

Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana, whose TV credits extend back to NBC’s “Homicide: Life on the Street” and HBO’s “Oz,” have been signed by the National Geographic Channel to do a miniseries on the last days of the American Embassy in Saigon.